October 26, 2005

If you can't join 'em, beat 'em...

Bruce sent along an outrageous article that was in the WSJ last week, regarding a problem that has been going on for at least a year (that's right, you heard it here first!)

Did you know that your telecommunications provider is free to prevent you from using your Internet connection to send video files or make long-distance calls? And no, I'm not talking about provisions blocking raunchy content, preventing the illegal exchange of copyrighted materials or prohibiting unsolicited telemarketing.

The telecom and cable companies want you to access video from their preferred providers (they get a cut, you know?), and they can ban your freedom to access videos in other ways. Which means you might never get to see little Maggie's first steps, or the day Jimmy first rode a bicycle.

The long-distance phone companies like the revenues they get from land line phone use, so they'll try to put Skype and other Internet telephony solutions out of business by banning their customers from accessing those services.

Think you can escape by turning to smaller, community ISP's? Think again, because the big telco's are working their hardest to keep small ISP's from providing broadband to communities. They like their monopoly status. (Great comment at muniwireless).

But what a cop-out! These OldBigCo's should be embracing the future, and changing their revenue models to meet the future head-on! If they keep fighting against it, we in the US will become second-class citizens in a modern world, clinging to our outdated companies and revenue streams as they dwindle ever-smaller...I call this Coward Capitalism. Get out there and innovate, people, or at least acquire the little fish who are doing it for you. That's the big difference between modern tech companies like Google, and the OldBigCo's. We must learn to embrace change, not squash it.

At heart, this sliver of the access debate is about democracy and openness, not saving a few bucks on phone calls and movie tickets. Bruce Kushnik has been railing about this and similar topics for years; Alex Goldman is a less biased expert. I'll close with a great bit from Martin Geddes' blog:

"Cheap, ubiquitous and unfiltered communications are becoming a prerequisite of a pluralist participative democracy. Societies that fail to encourage the free flow of information will suffer because ingrained interest groups will ensure the rules are set up to perpetuate their privileges. When you can’t make a Skype call, you’re losing something more than money."